


In Harmony

by Mister, SoraMatsuda



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Collaboration, Developing Friendships, Gen, Voicebanks, olikase
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 17:56:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12018051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mister/pseuds/Mister, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoraMatsuda/pseuds/SoraMatsuda
Summary: Fukase wasn't really persuaded to accept this half-hearted solution. He had seen Oliver's struggle to keep up with voices like his several times; the relief the blond showed when he sang with Fukase earlier was a clear sign his powerful voice would disrupt the harmonization.





	In Harmony

**Author's Note:**

> Collaboration with [Mister](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Mister/pseuds/Mister).

The quiet buzzing of the system put Fukase at ease. Usually at this time he would be busy with practicing a new song, but the recent days had been fairly quiet and boring for him. Therefore, he kept reassuring himself that soon enough, he would have work to do again—and so, tried to make the best out of his leisure.

For hours now Fukase has been sleeping. It wasn't a deep sleep, however, it was one of his limited methods to let time pass by quicker. Apart from singing random melodies that were stuck in his head, there wasn’t much to do other than doze off. 

As he laid in bed still half asleep, a faint murmur entered into his auditory system. Fukase checked the device on his wrist, which notified him that he had a new song assigned to him just a while ago. The screen noted that it was a duet with Oliver—someone that he had spoken to a few times but never sung with. He couldn’t help but smile with delight to have an opportunity to get to know his acquaintance more. Fukase figured he should go practice a bit since he felt refreshed from his nap.

Once Fukase had left his room, a gentle tune just decibels above hearing level tickled his eardrums. As he approached the practice room, he recognized the familiar British accent and figured that Oliver decided to get an early start on rehearsals. He didn’t want to interrupt, so he stood outside and listened to his new duet partner’s soothing voice.

To Fukase’s dismay, there was some static to the vocals, which meant that Oliver had amplified his voice far too much again. He frowned at the memories wherein the blond constantly increased his volume to just match up with others. Although they haven’t sung as a duet yet, Fukase realized that his English voicebank wouldn’t harmonize too well with Oliver’s—based on the blond’s previous singing partners that had similar voice types to his own.

The music gradually lulled, indicating the end of the song. Once all sounds had ceased, Fukase knocked to alert the occupant of his arrival. From where he stood, he could hear the rushed footsteps approach the door, as if they were in a hurry.  
Oliver creaked open the door rather slowly, eye widened in surprise at the presence of the redhead. “Ah, Fukase? You’re already here to practice? We got our assignment sent out not too long ago.”

Fukase chuckled in response. “I could say the same for you. I was bored and wanted to start early, but it seems you already beat me here to the studio.”

In a subdued tone, Oliver replied, “Oh, sorry. I just wanted to get some extra practice in.” With a smile, he continued, “But since you’re here now, maybe we should rehearse together. We have to practice our duet eventually anyways.”

Fukase nodded affirmative and led himself into the practice room. The large system was still connected to Oliver's device, though with some changes Fukase opened up the file for their duet. The lyrics popped up and Oliver joined the redhead to read them through. Afterwards, they made sure to do so once more with the instrumental playing in the background. This time, Fukase started to sing along in order to warm up his voice. Unlike Oliver, he hasn't used it too much today.

However, at the end of the second run, Fukase wasn't focused anymore and his thoughts trailed off to a worry - his English voicebank wouldn’t compliment Oliver’s. Fukase went through some options on how they could work together without Oliver straining himself too much, but the possibilities were limited. Even if Fukase tried to sing quieter, his powerful voice would continue to hinder any harmonization. 

Oliver noticed that Fukase wasn't paying attention to the lyrics anymore. He spotted a thoughtful frown on the redhead’s face, but decided not to react. Instead, he awoke Fukase out of his flood of thoughts to start rehearsal. It was their first duet and Oliver was really looking forward to it. He had heard the redhead before, and his soft voice was a pleasing variety from the other male Vocaloids he had already collaborated with. 

After both got to their positions, Oliver started the instrumental and they began to sing. As expected, they couldn't sing the whole song through at once so had to split it into parts to concentrate on. But even so, Oliver enjoyed the time he could spend with Fukase. At times, they were so busy they rarely saw each other, but now they got the opportunity to get to know each other better while working. 

Fukase would've liked to think the same way. Singing a duet with Oliver was surely enjoyable, but he couldn't concentrate fully on the situation. Earlier, Fukase came to the decision to use his soft voicebank while singing with Oliver. Hereby, the harmonization worked out better than with his other voicebanks, but he wasn't too fond of his English pronunciation. Hearing himself struggle with phonetics he usually had no trouble with frustrated him. However, he tried to bear with it for Oliver’s sake.

Time passed by quickly and neither of them noticed that it was already noon. Considering that they have started practicing only some hours ago, they made satisfying progress and decided to take a break. Fukase suggested they should get a light meal at the cafeteria and both made their way after they had shut down the system.  
Admittedly, it was quite early for lunch as it had only reached shortly after noon, but like this Fukase and Oliver had nearly the whole cafeteria for themselves; a few others were there to get cooling drinks.

“I guess that was quite a good first shot, right?” Fukase turned around to face Oliver, who nodded in response. The redhead bought two sandwiches and handed one to Oliver.  
“It's a nice variety to work with your soft voice,” Oliver mentioned and unwrapped his snack. With a chuckle, he turned his head to Fukase. “You should just work on your pronunciation a little more.”

“Yeah, I know,” Fukase managed to force himself to say. He didn't want to tell Oliver anything about his other voicebanks. He saw how relieved the blond looked to be able to sing in his voice range - he didn't want to disappoint him.

Oliver noticed there was something on Fukase’s mind, but when he asked the redhead about it, he didn't get an answer. Fukase’s absentmindedness didn't allow the blond to talk to him anymore, and so he decided to distract himself by going back to the practice room. He wanted to catch up on what he had forgotten earlier.  
When Oliver arrived back at the practice room, the door was unlocked so he let himself in—inferring that no one else was using the room. To his surprise, Dex and Daina were in the midst of a discussion, possibly about their own upcoming duet. The screen was blank but turned on, so he figured they were just about to start their rehearsal.

“Ah, sorry for interrupting you guys. I came here to practice a bit more, but I’ll do that later since you’re using the system.” Oliver turned to leave, but halted as one of them called out to him.

“Hey, wait, Oliver!” Dex shouted from across the room. He gestured for the blond to walk over to where they sat. “Yo, it’s been a while! How have you been?” He ruffled the boy’s hair as the blond sat down.

“I’m still trying to sing more powerful notes, but it’s difficult,” Oliver admitted. “I really wished I had a stronger voice like yours.” He recalled the times he was assigned songs with Dex and Daina. Although he had thoroughly enjoyed working with them, he struggled to project his own voice amongst their choruses. 

“But we love your gentle voice,” Daina said to reassure the blond. “We should practice together again, even if we don’t get assigned any collaborations.”

“Thanks, Daina. And I miss singing with you guys as well.” Oliver smiled as he reminisced the times he bonded with those two over their past projects. His thoughts raced back to Fukase and how he wished to befriend him as well.

“So who are you singing with nowadays?” Dex asked. His wolf ears perked up along with his curiosity.

“Just today, I was assigned a duet with Fukase. He has such a pleasant voice and it’s quite soft, like my own.” Oliver’s eye brightened with joy as he spoke about the redhead. “He could work a bit on his English pronunciation though. I don’t really mind that, of course.”

Dex and Daina glanced at each other in perplexity. Both had sung with the redhead before but thought that Oliver’s description of his voice didn’t match up to what they’ve heard. They were certain that Fukase’s voice was not soft like Oliver’s since theirs didn’t constantly drown out the redhead’s.

“You two are singing in English, right?” Daina inquired for confirmation. “Dex and I have sung with Fukase before, and his English voicebank definitely isn’t as gentle as yours.”

“Maybe he’s using his Japanese soft voicebank,” Dex chimed in. “Based on what you’ve told us, that seems like a possibility.” He shrugged his shoulders and huffed. “I dunno why he’d do that when he has a perfectly good English voicebank with decent pronunciation,” he said nonchalantly—earning him a glare from Daina.

Oliver’s eye widened in a shocked confusion to this information. “Wait—so his English and Japanese voicebanks don’t sound alike?”

“He actually has two Japanese voicebanks: normal and soft. His English voicebank is closer in tone to his Japanese normal, which is a moderately strong vocal,” Daina explained. Noticing the blond’s exasperation, she patted his back. “I’m sure Fukase means well.”

Overwhelmed with the revelation, Oliver stared blankly at his friends. “Oh, I see. I never knew about this, so thanks for telling me.” P He forced a bittersweet smile to hide his disorientation. “It was nice catching up with you both, but you should get back to practice. Let’s talk again soon!”

The three of them said their goodbyes and waved as the boy headed for the door. Once Oliver shut the door behind him, he continued to stand there, still processing his thoughts on the matter.  
In Oliver’s mind, emotions swirled around the information that Dex and Daina told him. He was pleased with Fukase’s soft toned voice, but it baffled him that the redhead didn’t use an optimal voicebank for their song. As he continued to muse in his thoughts, he came across a rather disturbing possibility: What if Fukase used his Japanese voicebank because he wasn’t taking the duet seriously?

Oliver had enjoyed working with Fukase thus far, so he didn’t want to jump to conclusions. Unsure of how to feel, he decided to take some time off to process the situation properly. Since a single faulty conversation could put them on unfavorable terms, Oliver opted to delay the confrontation for until he had a solid plan. 

For the rest of the day, Oliver hadn't spoken much to Fukase. He wasn't trying to be stubborn and avoided the redhead on purpose, but he couldn't keep up a proper conversation as his thoughts focused on what Dex and Daina had told him. In the end, both said their goodbyes and decided to continue rehearsal tomorrow. 

Oliver wanted to talk to Fukase about his voicebanks, but he didn't know how to put his confusing thoughts into words. He started to consider his behavior as too hasty and assumed Fukase had his reasons without any bad intentions.  
Thinking that way helped him calm down a little. Oliver realized that otherwise his confusion could make matters worse if he acted poorly through the situation. Once he managed to settle his thoughts, he would talk with Fukase about it. 

In the late afternoon, he had enough of pondering and took a nap to let time pass by. Unfortunately, he fell into a light and restless sleep that didn't make him feel any better. A glance at his phone signaled to him that his nap turned out to be a sleep that woke him in the middle of the night. Although he couldn't really take a rest, he wasn't weighed down with weariness at all. Only his mind was still numbed from the inactive state he was in just now. But that was a good sign he was able to calm down a little and process what he had heard from the other Vocaloids.

However, now that he got rid of his confused state, he decided to think about how to approach Fukase. Oliver didn't want to jump to conclusions, only to risk his friendship with the redhead. He couldn't understand why Fukase wouldn't tell him about it, but that didn't mean it was completely wrong of Fukase to keep his other voicebanks a secret. Oliver knew he was too fixed on his opinion, therefore, he wanted to use the time he had to calm down.

While Oliver walked along the hallway to the practice rooms, he trembled from nervousness. He had already planned out their conversation, even though he knew it wouldn't occur the way he imagined. Nevertheless, the whole morning, he contemplated his wording and didn't want to let his efforts go to waste. That's what he told himself at least. 

Reluctantly, he opened the door to the practice room and his eyes shifted to the specific red hair he found in front of the screen. With a smile, Fukase turned around to greet the blond who forced a smile as well, even though inside of him he was everything but happy. Oliver took his place next to Fukase, who had already prepared the lyrics and instrumental. 

Silently, Oliver watched the redhead fix the last settings, his thoughts trailing off to the conversation he felt uneasy with. It continued to bother him the entire warm up and Oliver couldn't help but sigh in frustration, even though he tried his best to hide it from Fukase.

“I guess we can start now,” Fukase said after their warm up and started the song. Albeit reluctantly, Oliver tried to concentrate on his work whilst hoping that Fukase might use his English voicebank today. Much to his dismay, this wasn't the case. Like yesterday, Fukase tried to harmonize with his soft vocals. 

Oliver tried to temper his impatience. He intended to delay the conversation after rehearsals, but his raging thoughts didn't allow him to as the blond started to shake slightly. His voice wavered to a gradual decline, so he decided to stop his horrible attempt to play everything off as normal.  
Concentrated on the lyrics, Fukase's gaze stuck to the screen to give his utmost effort. Although he still disliked his pronunciation, he tried to improve it. However, as he noticed Oliver's voice trailing off, he stopped as well and turned to face the blond. 

"Is something wrong, Oliver?" Fukase bent his head as he saw a frown on the other one's face, not realizing what bothered him. The following silence made Fukase nervous. Oliver looked like he was about to talk any time soon but the redhead feared it could have something to do with his voicebanks.

“Why won't you use your English voicebank?” Oliver turned his head to Fukase, who blinked in surprise. He almost expected it to have something to do with his voicebank, but the way Oliver mentioned it without hesitation left him stunned. Usually he was reluctant when it came to talking about troubles, but this time that wasn't the case. Fukase tried to answer as Oliver cut off his words. 

“Are you even serious about this?” Oliver growled with irritation.  
“What? Of course,” Fukase responded in a rather harsh tone. Although he understood that Oliver was confused on why he didn't use his English voicebank, questioning his commitment was simply exaggerated. 

Oliver didn't seem to be satisfied with Fukase's words and continued to eye the redhead with a saddened expression. “Then why do you use a voicebank that worsens your pronunciation?” 

Fukase lowered his head remorsefully. The bitterness in Oliver's voice made him realize that his action wasn't the best decision. He didn't mean to cause any trouble; he actually aimed for the opposite. Filled with guilt, he looked back at Oliver's sullen face and forced a smile. However, that didn't cheer up the blond at all.

Fukase knew he had to explain his intention for using an unfitting voicebank. He closed his eyes with a troubled sigh for a second before he made eye contact with the blond again. "My English voicebank would overshadow your voice." Fukase wasn't too sure if he just hallucinated, but he thought he saw Oliver frown for a second.  
Though, not much later, the blond shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the screen. "Well, then I guess I need to sing louder." 

Fukase wasn't really persuaded to accept this half-hearted solution. He had seen Oliver's struggle to keep up with voices like his several times; the relief the blond showed when he sang with Fukase earlier was a clear sign his powerful voice would disrupt the harmonization.

“C’mon, you see it's working like this,” Fukase sighed. He knew Oliver was distressed and there was nothing he could do about it. He had already stated the truth, which obviously didn't satisfy the blond as he continued to stare at the screen. Fukase couldn't understand why Oliver acted so strangely, but he didn't want to drag this tension on for too long. “Are you mad at me?” 

Oliver glanced to the side where Fukase stood, uncertain of what else to do. With a sigh, he turned back at the redhead. “Let me hear your English voicebank at least.” 

Fukase didn't hesitate too long and turned to the screen to sing the first part of the song, this time with his English voicebank. As expected, his pronunciation was much clearer, which delighted the redhead, who already knew his capabilities. However, Oliver has never heard Fukase’s English voicebank before and was surprised by the clear articulation. 

In the corner of his eye, Fukase saw Oliver's expression soften as he opened his eye wide and stared at the screen. The redhead continued to prove his reasoning until he stopped at the chorus. He turned back at Oliver, who stood there speechless—though Fukase couldn't make out if it was in a positive or negative way.  
Fukase sighed with exasperation. “See, my voice is too powerful.”

Oliver turned his head away and frowned. “You should've told me anyway.”

“I know and I’m sorry,” Fukase apologized and hoped for the misunderstanding to be solved. It looked like the tension decreased somewhat, though Oliver continued to look troubled. 

“And what now?” Oliver asked as he shot him a side glance.

Both went quiet. With a sigh, Fukase ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. He already knew what they had to do now, but Oliver wouldn't be too happy about it.  
“We’ll continue the way we started it,” Fukase insisted to leave the arrangements as it was. He was sure like this, Oliver had it much easier and their voices would match much better. But the blond frowned and crossed his arms. 

“Your English voicebank suits the song better.”

“What do you expect me to do now?” Fukase raised his voice impatiently, but quieted down right away to not start a fight. “If I use it, my voice will inevitably be in the foreground. Then you can forget about the duet.”

Deep in thought, Oliver bent his head and sighed. Fukase saw that the blond was still opposed to his suggestion. It didn't upset him, but he knew they had to use his Japanese voicebank to symphonize well. He sighed and hoped for Oliver to reconsider. 

“Can we try at least?” Oliver looked up to Fukase's face again. “You shouldn't worsen your own pronunciation just because my voice is too soft.”

“You know what? I've got an idea,” Fukase said, slightly impatient now. Although he expected an answer like this, he hoped that Oliver would accept the circumstances. “I’ll try to harmonize with my English voicebank, but you’ll see it won't work out that well.”

Fukase wasn't too pleased to make that suggestion, but he knew had also had to compromise with Oliver. Today was the first time he has ever heard of the redhead’s other voicebanks, so he needed time to sort out which voicebank worked best for his voice. Fukase tried to accept it, even if it meant the duet might take longer like this.

In response to Fukase’s offer, Oliver grinned from ear to ear. He hadn't given up hope on the redhead’s English voicebank entirely. It might be louder than his, but maybe they could find a way to decrease the volume difference.  
Oliver looked back at the lyrics, his smile still on his face as he tried to find where they had stopped. Fukase smiled in relief to see the blond in a better mood again. For now, he let Oliver understand that it's not the best solution, but at least it was something to start with. The redhead fumbled on his device to let the music play and they both started to sing again - this time with Fukase's English voicebank.

The next weeks were a long journey until they finished the duet. The first days they had spent with using Fukase's English voicebank were especially straining, and in the end, a waste of time. Oliver had noticed his struggle against the redhead's strong voice and accepted that it was much better to use the Japanese soft voicebank. Of course, Fukase's pronunciation had to suffer because of that, but both agreed it was their best possible solution. Like this, the progress slowly came to a satisfying end. 

But not only their duet developed. During their project, they had met more often outside the practice room to spend some time together. They noticed their good relationship wasn't only confined to work but also in their leisure with the personal interests they shared. Within these weeks, they got to know each other much better. Neither of them considered it a big change from acquaintances to friends, but they knew by time they will grow closer. 

With a relieved sigh, Fukase took a seat at the edge of his bed. He had been busy all day long and was glad to finally sit down for a while. Before he could even think of leisure though, he had to finish his job.  
By changing some settings, the redhead put Oliver and his duet's file into the "done" file. A small smile crept in his face as he reminisced about the hours they had been sitting on the mixer console for a final touch—or the hours they stood in front of the screen to practice in the lyrics. Thinking back on such memories, Fukase was glad to be where he was. 

Just as he switched off his device, he heard a faint knock at his door. Curious as to who it could be, he opened the door, only to find Oliver standing there. "Hey, Oliver. What's up?" 

Oliver smiled and insisted to stand in front of Fukase's room, even though the redhead offered him to come inside. "Nothing in particular. I just wanted to talk about the duet."

Fukase bent his head confused. "The duet? Aren't you satisfied with it?"  
Oliver shook his head with a chuckle and put up his arms in defense. "Calm down, everything's fine with it. I just wanted to tell you I'd like to do more duets with you."  
The redhead nodded with a smile on his face, and closed the door after Oliver went off again. The duet had its ups and downs. However, in the end, both of them were happy how things turned out.


End file.
